SD/SDIO/MMC Host Controller IP Core (ASIC and FPGA)

A complete, easy to integrate and cost-effective IP core featuring SD/SDIO/MMC Host Controller Interface, for SoC/PDA applications that connect to SD/MMC memory cards and SDIO/combo devices such as Bluetooth device.

The SD/SDIO/MMC Host IP Core introduces a dual clock domain, fully synchronized host adapter with portable WISHBONE slave and master back-end interface which can be easily adapted to AHB/OPB/PLB/AVALON or any custom bus using one of ASICS.ws Wishbone bridges. The front end implements SD specification rev1.10, SDIO specification rev1.0 and MMC specification rev4.0. SD/MMC 1 bit and 4 bit protocols are supported, as well SPI protocol. The core is capable of automatically identifying SD, SDIO and MMC devices in both SD/MMC or SPI mode. Several slave access modes are supported; memory-mapped write and read, command port and core configuration port. The SD / SDIO / MMC IP Core core provides a wide range of control and status registers. The cores' DMA engine is capable of performing any write/read, command and configuration tasks while accessing host memory through the WISHBONE master interface.

Main Features: 

• Compliant with SD Host Controller Spec version 2.0
• Supports CE-ATA
• Supports SD 1-bit and 4-bit modes, as well as SPI  mode
• Compatible to Multi Media Card (MMC) spec version 4.0 and  older
• Provides memory-mapped and i/o access to  SD/MMC cards through a Wishbone slave adapter
• Read cache with variable physical size and  configurable page size to boost-up card read access performance.
• Interrupt-on-completion handshake eliminates host resources utilization during read operations
• Write FIFO with variable size and configurable thresholds to enable non-blocking operations and  prevent back-pressure propagation from card to host
• Supports posted write operations
• Supports SDIO IRQ signaling
• Implements multi-block read and write commands with internal STOP command generation (CMD12) for enhanced throughput
• Supports any data block length
• Supports fast and slow SD cards. SD clock frequency: 0-50+MHz
• Supports hot card insertion and removal
• SD/SDIO/MMC/SPI identification flow implemented by hardware
• Provides command port interface for direct access to the SD/MMC devices and for I/O access to SDIO devices
• Features zero-wait-states on SD bus
• Wide range of configuration options to fine-tune the core according to the system specifications and demands
• Wide range of mask able interrupt events, such as card detection, block transfer termination, command completion, error detection end many more
• Internal implementation of CRC16 for data lines and CRC7 for command line

• Customer specified bus interface
• No dedicated local memory required
• Compact and cost-effective solution for SoC and PDA
• Slave System Interface:
  - WISHBONE, CoreConnect, AMBA, and AVALON

The SD/SDIO/MMC IP Core can be smoothly integrated to any host system using one of the slave interfaces listed above. Mapping the card memory on the system bus address space dramatically reduces the overhead of firmware and software development required for embedding the core. The implementation of retry and interrupt-on- completion mechanism minimizes the utilization of system resources, such as bus or CPU cycles. These key features speed up the time-to-market, making the core a real cost-effective solution for SoC and PDA developers.

Architecture:

The core can be divided into 3 main functions: command/write channel, read channel and configuration and management channel. The command/write path consists of a command builder, command/write FIFO, CRC generation, completion and interrupt handling. The read path contains a read cache with a configurable page size and up to 8 valid pages in cache. It also consists of CRC checking and error handling logics. The configuration and management channel provides access to the core control and status registers. The core also provides the host with clock control interface and LED outputs.

SD/MMC Host Physical  Layer Interface

The core front-end supports SD protocol in 1bit and 4bit modes, MMC protocol and SPI. Its' functional blocks include command execution and response interpretation, data write and read FSM, CRC generators, SD/MMC/SPI identification, interrupting the host upon events such as card insertion/removal, completion of command execution, completion of page update in the cache, error detection and more. Reliability is achieved through completion and error indications.

Host Bus Interface

A SD/MMC card is mapped on the host address space, such that the implementation is virtually transparent to the host. Write data is gathered and packed into write blocks. Read access may be followed by immediate data if the address is valid in the read cache (cache-hit), or it may initiate a data page replacement if the address is not valid in the cache (cache-miss).

Internal Buffers

The SD/MMC Host IP Core deploys two buffering entities: command/write FIFO and read cache. The core can be provided with a variety of buffering space, e.g. 512 byte, 1K byte, 2K byte or 4K byte. Moreover, buffering space can be assigned optimally according to system demands. E.g., applications designed solely for read-only cards may have the majority of buffer space allocated to their read cache and minimal buffer space allocated to their write FIFO, whereas applications designed for writing and reading data may have a balanced buffer allocation. SDIO applications that don't require memory access support may use minimal buffering for both read and write path, thereby reducing the overall SoC area.

Size & Speed:

IP Core Price:

Evaluation Daughter Card:

A P160 based daughter card with SD and USB 2.0  is available for evaluation of SDIO and USB 2.0 Core.
Part Number: HTG-V4P-SDIO

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